TAE: Were you at all sympathetic to the states’ rights arguments that these guys were making?
FOOTE: I’m sympathetic to the states’ rights people only in a pragmatic way. To have the same speed limit in Vermont that you have in New Mexico is ridiculous.
I’m a yellow-dog Democrat, a true believer in everything that the Democratic Party stands for. I still admire Franklin Roosevelt tremendously for saving us from fascism or communism. I’m inclined to think the government can solve all problems; I have found out that that’s a long way from true. The central government does a very bad job if you turn education over to them: You wind up either with a bunch of academics who think they have the answer to everything or politicians who will do things for political reasons, and it’s a bad scene.
I have found out over the last 50 years that the government can create as many problems as it solves, but I’m still a good, solid Democrat. One thing I admire about the Republicans greatly is their intense concern for the individual as opposed to the state. They’re always out to protect the individual.
When television first came on in the early ’50s during the Eisenhower campaign, I said, “Now we can now look the creature in the face while he’s lying to us, and we’re going to be able to tell.” And I was wrong as I could be. The man is packaged on television for you to look at, and you can be fooled very badly. The result is, in an election, I no longer vote for the man, I vote the party.
I am a Canadian and therefore wish that Shelby Foote had been a Canadian so I could brag about him. What a brilliant man! He should have been President!
I’ll always admire his strength of Character! Having been a strong and proud Southerner he constantly sought to understand the Civil War and fortunately for us he was inflexible and not apologetic about being a Southerner.
He taught, somewhat magically the reality of war as well as any of the great generals that experienced it could have shared that with us, were they here to do that.
As you can see from his answer here, the man had a strong individualistic character which did not change an ounce even with his enormous popularity.
The name Shelby Foote, as much as Robert E. Lee will stay with me as a definition to what that very fascinating yet educational struggle was all about. 260,000 men did not die in vain!
Again, like your Tiger Woods, I wish he had been Canadian. Be proud!
Ross Tylor up in Canada